MarciaGentry

Marcia Gentry is an engaged scholar and has received grants worth several million dollars supporting her work with programming practices and underrepresented populations in gifted education. She actively participates in the field and frequently contributes to the gifted education literature, and regularly serves as a speaker and She spent 11 years as a teacher and administrator in K-12 settings. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, gardening, hanging out in the horse barn, collecting contemporary Navajo weavings, spending time at her a cabin on Lake Superior, and working with her doctoral students. She was the 2014 recipient of the prestigious NAGC Distinguished Scholar Award—and at this same meeting one of her graduates received the Early Scholar Award and one of her doctoral students received the Doctoral Student Award!

Lorne H. Woollatt Distinguished Paper of the Year Award for Enrichment Clusters and Regular Classrooms: Are They Different as Students See Them? Northeastern Educational Research Association’s Invited paper: 1996 annual meeting of The American Educational Research Association. ($500) (1996)

Certificate of Appreciation. Michigan Alliance for Gifted Education. Recognition for outstanding service and commitment to talent development and gifted education in the state of Michigan. (1996)

Research interests include student attitudes toward school on constructs including Appeal, Challenge, Choice, Interest, Enjoyment, Meaningfulness, and Self-Efficacy, and the connection of these attitudes toward learning and motivation; the use of gifted education pedagogy as a means of improving learning and teaching; the use of cluster-grouping and differentiation to meet the needs of gifted and talented students while helping all students achieve at high levels; the use of non-traditional settings for talent development such as Career and Technical Education; the development and recognition of talent among under-served populations including students with diverse cultural backgrounds and children who live in poverty; effects of test-driven school climates on student learning and teacher practices; limitations to currently practiced methods of identifying gifted children.

Selected Publications

National Referred Journal Articles

Hodges, J. & Gentry, M. (Submitted). The Effect of an Out-of-School Enrichment Program on Math Achievement for High-Potential Students from Low-Income Families.

Yang, Y., & Gentry, M. (2012). Some thoughts on “Cultural variation and dominance in a globalized knowledge-economy.” Towards a cultural-sensitive research paradigm in the science of giftedness”. Gifted and Talented International, 27(1), 123-124.

Gentry, M., Peters, S., & Mann, R.L. (2007). Differences between general and talented students’ perceptions of their career and technical education experiences compared to their traditional high school experiences. Journal of Advanced Academics, 18, 372-401.

Gentry, M., Rizza, M.G., & Owen, S.V. (2002). Examining perceptions of challenge and choice in classrooms: The relationship between teachers and their students and comparison between gifted students and other students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 46, 145-155.

Gentry, M., Gable, R.K. (2001). From the students’ perspective My Class Activities: An instrument for use in research and evaluation. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 24, 322-343.

Rizza, M.G. & Gentry, M. (2001). A legacy of promise: Reflections, suggestions, and directions from contemporary leaders in the field of gifted education. The Teacher Educator, 36, 167-184.

Gentry, M., Gable, R.K, & Springer, P. (2000). Gifted and non-gifted middle school students: Are their attitudes toward school different as measured by the new affective instrument, my class activities? Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 24, 74-96.